Granted Patent B1

US 8,432,630 · App. 12/828,086 · Granted Apr 30, 2013

Abstract

Claims (35)

1. A hard drive component test system comprising:

a rack comprising a plurality of test bays;

a plurality of first test sub-assemblies mounted in respective ones of the plurality of test bays; and

a test control system electrically coupled to each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies,

wherein each of the plurality of test bays is configured to receive a second test sub-assembly and to engage the second test sub-assembly with the first test sub-assembly mounted in the respective bay to form a test assembly, and

wherein the test control system is configured to selectively execute a test process on the up to a plurality of test assemblies mounted in the rack.

2. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of the test bays are vertically aligned in the rack.

3. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the test control system is configured to execute the test process on the up to a plurality of test assemblies in parallel.

4. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the test control system is configured to execute the test process on the up to a plurality of test assemblies sequentially.

5. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies comprises a head stack assembly, and

wherein each of the up to a plurality of second test sub-assemblies comprises a disk spindle assembly.

6. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies comprises a disk spindle assembly, and

wherein each of the up to a plurality of second test sub-assemblies comprises a head stack assembly.

7. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies comprises a pair of first rails, and

wherein each of the up to a plurality of second test sub-assemblies comprises a pair of second rails configured to align with the pair of first rails on a respective one of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies.

8. The hard drive component test system according to claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies is configured to slidably receive one of the up to a plurality of second test sub-assemblies and to align the second test sub-assembly with the respective first test sub-assembly.

9. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of test bays is configured to receive the second test sub-assembly from a front-loading position.

10. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the test control system is electrically coupled to the printed circuit board assembly of each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies via a hard drive interface.

11. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of first test sub-assemblies are removably mounted in the respective ones of the plurality of test bays.

12. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the test control system is configured to capture and store test data in a storage medium during execution of the test process.

13. The hard drive component test system according to claim 1 , wherein the test control system comprises a display, and

wherein the test control system is configured to display the captured test data on the display.

14. A method for testing multiple hard drive components, comprising:

mounting a plurality of first test sub-assemblies in respective ones of a plurality of test bays in a rack;

electrically coupling a test control system to each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies;

mounting a plurality of second test sub-assemblies in respective ones of the plurality of test bays, wherein the plurality of second test sub-assemblies engage the respective first test sub-assemblies in the respective ones of the plurality of test bays to form a plurality of test assemblies; and

executing a test process using a test control system on the plurality of test assemblies to test a hard drive component in each of the plurality of test assemblies.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein executing the test process on the plurality test assemblies comprises executing the test process on the plurality of test assemblies in parallel.

16. The method according to claim 14 , wherein executing the test process on the plurality of test assemblies comprises executing the test process on the plurality of test assemblies sequentially.

17. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:

swapping one of the plurality of second test sub-assemblies mounted in one of the plurality of test bays with another second test sub-assembly to form a second test assembly; and

executing the test process on the second test assembly.

18. The method according to claim 14 , wherein electrically coupling the test control system to each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies comprises coupling the test control system to each of the plurality of first test sub-assemblies using a hard drive interface.

19. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising displaying results of the test process.

20. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising storing results of the test process.

Assignments (8)